The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Kaufman House

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Institution Name: Bethel College (KS)
Original/Historic Place Name: Edmund George Kaufman House
Location on Campus: 2515 College Ave.
Date(s) of Construction:

1932	original construction Daum, Jacob

Designer: Jacob Daum
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Modern/pre-WWII, Other (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, education, history, religion
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: wood stud and wood siding

Roof: asphalt shingles

Function:

1932-1948	president's house (E. G. Kaufman)
1948-present (2006)	residence hall (originally consisted of just upper level, then all levels)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	other (home of Bethel College Kansas Institute for Peace and Justice)

Narrative:
Kaufman House was the residence of Dr. E. G. Kaufman and was built near the start of his 20-year Bethel College presidency. Kaufman also served as Vice-President and professor of sociology at the college. Kaufman is known at Bethel for his long presidency during which the college thrived, as the person most responsible for Bethel becoming the first Mennonite college to receive academic accreditation, and as arguably one of Bethel's finest teachers. He was also an astute investor and fortunately for Bethel, adopted the "college as a child." He is known throughout the Mennonite Church for his intellectual religious writing.

Kaufman House was built from scrap lumber taken from a Newton, Kansas home that was being torn down. Extended family built the home based on a floor plan by Jacob Daum. Local people were not impressed with the finished building and commented that it looked like a "cow without a tail."

References:

Jehnke, James C. Creative Crusader. North Newton, KS: Bethel College, 1994.

Edmund George Kaufman House Papers [unprocessed manuscript collection]. Archives, Bethel College, North Newton, KS.

Wedel, Peter. The Story of Bethel College. North Newton, KS: Bethel College, 1954.